Audible timing device



g- 4, 19.70 I w. G. PERRY 3,522,701

AUDIBLE TIMING nnvxcn Filed May 22, 1969 as as FIG. 3 FIG. 4

INVENTOR. WESLEY G. PERRY ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oifice3,522,701 Patented Aug. 4, 1970 vs. Cl. 58-130 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE An audible timer including a relatively fiat, enclosedbox-like cam having a plurality of internal corners and mounted forrotation in a substantially vertical plane. A ball is contained and ismovable freely within the cam so that it will gravitate to the lowermostinternal corner. As the box is rotated continually the corners arerotated in succession to the lowermost position, the ball gravitatesprogressively to the succeeding corners as they are rotated to thelowermost position. An audible click is produced when the ball engages acorner so that continued rotation of the cam results in the generationof a series of audible clicks in a pattern determined by the distancebetween successive corners and the rotational speed of the cam.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention is directed to an audible timingdevice for producing a series of repetitive audible clicks in apredetermined, rythmic pattern. It is intended for use as a metronome oras a classroom aid but is adaptable readily to any other environment inwhich a repetitive audible timing signal is desired. My invention may beincorporated in a number of specific embodiments, some of which aredescribed below, which are relatively simple and inexpensive toconstruct. Thus, it is among the objects of my invention to provide anaudible timer which is highly accurate yet is of simple, inexpensiveconstruction.

In brief, my timer produces a series of repetitive, audible clicks byrepeatedly elevating a striker ball and then permitting it to rolldownwardly along a predetermined path into striking engagement with aplate or other member to produce the audible click. More specifically,one of the embodiments of my invention includes a relatively thinbox-like cam mounted for rotation in a substantially vertical plane. Thebox is enclosed by a sidewall that extends continuously about anddefines its perimeter, the sidewall being formed from a plurality ofsubstantially straight sidewall segments which are connected in end toend series and at an angle with respect to each other to form aninternal corner at the juncture of adjacent sidewall segments. A ballwhich acts as a striker, is contained within the box and tends togravitate to that corner of the box which is in the lowermost position.By rotating the box, successive corners progressively are presented tothe lowermost position and the ball will roll to the succeeding corneras soon as that corner is rotated to the lowermost position. When theball engages the corner an audible click is produced.

The repetition rate of the clicks may be varied either by varying thespeed at which the box is rotated or by substituting another box havingdifferent internal dimensions between the corners. It will beappreciated further that the box may be constructed so that the path oftravel between successive corners varies in such a manner so as toproduce a repetitive series of irregular but predetermined audiblenoises or clicks.

Another aspect of my invention is directed to an arrangement by whichthe frequency of the audible clicks may be varied by providing some ofthe internal corners of the box with felt pads or the like so that whenthe striker ball rolls to a padded corner there will be no audibleclick, the click being produced only at the unpadded corners.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from theforegoing description with reference to the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of my timer;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the device as seen from the line 2-2 of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a substantially diagrammatical view of the embodiment of FIGS.1 and 2 illustrating the position of the rotating box as the strikerball begins to roll downwardly toward the newly presented lowermostcorner;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatical illustration similar to that of FIG. 3illustrating the position of the rotated box and striker ball justbefore the striker ball engages the lowermost corner of the box;

FIG. 5 is an illustration similar to that of FIG. 2 illustrating the useof soft pads in selected corners of the box so that the audible clickwill be produced only at the unpadded corners of the box;

FIG. 6 is a somewhat diagrammatical view of a triangular timing box; and

FIG. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of my invention wherein thestriker ball is movable in an endless tube.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate one embodiment of my invention which includes astand 10 having an upstanding support member 12 that is somewhatinclined from the vertical for a purpose later described. For ease ofexplanation the support member 12 will be considered presently asextending in a substantially vertical direction. A synchronous motor 14and a gear reduction box 16 are mounted to the rearward side of thesupport member 12. The gear reduction box 16 has an output shaft 18which extends forwardly through the support member 12. The output shaft18 is received within a hole formed in the hub 20 which is secured, inturn, to a cam 22. The output shaft 18 is preferably splined or providedwith a fiat (not shown) to preclude relative rotation between the hub 20and cam 22, the hole in the hub 20 being shaped to receive the shaft 18.

The cam 22, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is of a boX- like constructionhaving spaced front and rear walls 24 and 26. A number of sidewallsegments 28, 30, 32 and 34 are secured to the front and rear walls 24,26 and to each other to define a continuing endless sidewall whichencloses interior of the cam 22. The interior width of the cam, betweenthe front and rear walls 24 and 26, is relatively small as compared tothe other dimensions of the cam 22. A striker 36, which, in theillustrative embodiment of my invention is shown as a ball, is containedwithin the box and is movable freely therein. The diameter of the ball36 is less than the space between the front and rear walls 24, 26 topermit freedom of movement of the sphere 36 within the cam 22.

The sidewall segments 28, 30, 32 and 34 are located end to end and inseries about the hub 20 so that each juncture between adjacent sidewallsdefines the corners or interior cam lobes 29, 31, 33 and 35. Althoughthe illustrative embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 discloses asubstantially square cam having right angle interior corners, othergeometrical shapes may be used as will be later described.

In the following description of my timing device it will be appreciatedthat each of the sidewall segments 28, 30, 32 and 34 may be consideredas cooperating with the front and rear walls 24 and 26 to define achannel run for guiding the striker 36 as it rolls from corner tocorner. For example, the sidewall 30, front wall 24 and rear wall 26define a channel run which runs between the cornered cam lobes 29 and31.

The operation of my timer is illustrated, somewhat diagrammatically inFIGS. 3 and 4. In operation, the cam 22 is rotated at a predetermined,constant speed by the synchronous motor 14 and its associated gearings16. It will be appreciated further that at any given time one of theinternal cam lobes 29, 31, 33 or 35 will be in a position that is lowerthan any of the other lobes. As the cam 22 is continually rotated thenext succeeding lobe will be rotated to this lowermost position. Forexample, assuming the lobe 29 to be at the lowermost position (see FIGS.1 and 2), continued clockwise rotation of the cam 22 will cause the lobe29 to rise and the lobe 31 to descend. The lobe 29 remains in thelowermost position until the cam 22 is rotated to the position shown inFIG. 3 at which time the lobe 31 is disposed lower than any of the otherlobes. Similarly the lobe 31 will be in the lowermost position until thecam 22 has been rotated to bring the lobe 33 to the lowermost position.Inasmuch as the striker 36 is permitted freedom of movement within thecam it will be biased constantly by gravity and will seek the lowermostpossible position within the cam 22, i.e. the lowermost corner lobe. Itwill be understood that the speed of rotation is selected to be lowenough to prevent centrifugal force from interfering with thegravitation of the striker. Thus as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the striker36 will rest within the corner lobe 29 until the cam 22 has been rotatedto the position shown in FIG. 3 where the lobe 31 is in the lowermostposition and the ball 36 begins to roll toward the lobe 31 within thechannel defined by the sidewall 30 and front and rear walls 24, 26. FIG.4 shows the relative positions of the striker 36 and cam 22 just beforethe striker engages the corner 31 with a. force sufficient to producethe aforementioned audible click.

As used in the description and the appended claims the term lowermost isintended to describe that lobe which is lower than any of the otherlobes. This particular lobe is in the lowermost position as soon as itis rotated downwardly below the level of the preceding lobe. Theparticular lobe remains in the lowermost position until the nextsucceeding lobe is rotated below the level of the particular lobe.

It should be noted that the angle formed between the adjacent ends ofthe sidewalls should be small enough to retain the striker 36 within thelowermost lobe until the subsequent lobe is rotated to the lowermostposition. This insures that the striker will begin to gravitate towardthe next lobe precisely at the intended time.

The cam 22 and striker may be fabricated from any number of materialswhich will cooperate to produce the desired audible noise. For example asteel or glass striker ball 36 in a plastic cam 22 is satisfactory.Additionally the cam 22 may be of a transparent plastic, such as Lucite,to permit observation of the striker movement within the cam 22.

FIG. 5 shows an arrangement for varying the frequency of the audibleclicks generated by the timer, and consists simply of pads 52 or dampingmaterial, such as felt, which are glued or otherwise secured at selectedlobes within the cam 22. Thus if the unpadded cam 22 shown in FIG. 5would produce normally a series of clicks having a frequency of twoclicks per second, placement of the pads 52 in the opposite corners 29,33 would change the frequency of the cam to one click per second,because the striker 36 would only generate the audible click in thecorners 31 and 35. The damping pads 52 may also be used in anarrangement that would vary the rhythm of the audible clicks as would bethe case, for example, if only a single pad were placed in the corner29. The timer would generate a series of three regularly spaced slicksfollowed by a blank. The location of the pads 52 may be varied toproduce any number of rhythmic patterns or frequencies.

The cam 22 need not be of the rectangular form discussed this far. Asshown in FIG. 6 a triangular cam 22 having sidewalls 38, 40 and 44 whichalternate with and define the acutely cornered lobes 39, 41 and 43 wouldbe equally effective. Similarly, cams of varying polygonal shapes, bothregular and irregular, may be substituted to provide the desiredpatterns.

It will be appreciated that when the cam has relatively few lobes, asdoes the triangular cam of FIG. 6, the angles defined at the lobes willbe more acute than those of a cam having a greater number of lobes. Forexample, in the triangular earn shown, each of the lobes defines anangle of 60 whereas in a hexagonal cam each lobe would define an angleof It will be appreciated further that an acutely angled lobe will bemore effective to retain the ball 36 than would be a lobe defined by agreater angle. For this reason, when the cam is to be rotated at higherspeeds, it is dsirable to provide a cam with relatively acute corneredlobes to insure that the ball 36 will not bounce about the region of thelobes.

Although my invention has been described as utilizing an enclosed,box-like cam there are other equivalent embodiments which may besubstituted to produce equally satisfactory results. In this regard itshould be noted that when operating in accordance with my invention,although the striker 36 is permitted complete freedom of movement withinthe cam, the striker 36 moves only within the aforementioned channelsdefined by the sidewalls 28, 30, 32 and 34 and the front and rear walls24 and 26. The striker 36 remains in contact with one of the sidewallsat all times. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7, an alternative embodiment of myinvention may include a number of tubes 44, 46, 48 and 50, connected,end to end, in series to define the continuous endless channel. Each ofthe tubes defines one run of the channel and the ends of adjacent tubesmeet to define the corner lobes 45, 47, 49 and 51. The tubes may beformed from any number of materials ranging from metal or plastic topaper, the striker 36 being formed from a material, as mentioned above,which will produce an audible noise as it gravitates successively intoengagement with the corner lobes.

The tubular embodiment of the cam shown in FIG. 7 may be advantageousparticularly when it is desirable to produce the audible clicks atrelatively high frequency. It will be appreciated that if the box-likecam shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 were rotated at a relatively high speed theremight be a tendency for the striker 36 to bounce around within the cam22 and not follow precisely the intended path as it rolls from lobe tolobe. By completely confining the channel runs within the tubes 44, 46,48 and 50 it is insured that when generating high frequency audibleclicks by increasing the rotational speed of the cam, the striker willnot bounce around and will follow its intended path as it rolls fromlobe to lobe.

As described earlier the support member 12 and cam 22 are inclinedsomewhat to the vertical. Although such inclination is not necessarystrictly to enable the timer to function properly it may be desirable topreclude widthwise movement of the striker 36 within the cam 22 as itrolls along the channel from one lobe to the next. Extensive widthwisemovement of the striker and the cam 22 might tend to retard movement ofthe striker to the next lobe. This would be particularly true in longerchannel runs. Such widthwise movement, or chattering, will tend to varythe time required for the striker to roll from one corner to the nextthereby reducing the accuracy of the timer. Furthermore, widthwisechattering of the striker 36 would also introduce minor, butundesirable, audible clicks as the striker 36 chatters between the frontand rear walls 24 and 26. By inclining the cam 22 as shown in FIG. 1,the striker 36 is gravity biased against the rear wall 26 to reduce thetendency to chatter as the ball 36 rolls along the channel runs.

It will be understood that it is not necessary strictly to enclosecompletely the juncture of adjacent sidewalls which define the interiorcam lobes. In some instances it may be easier to construct a cam inaccordance with my invention in which the ends of adjacent sidewalls donot meet but are somewhat spaced. As long as the space is not largeenough to permit the striker 36 to fall out of the cam or to otherwisehinder the passage of the striker 36 from one lobe to the next, there isno objection to providing such a space.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that I have provided a timerwhich produces a repetitive audible noise at predetermined intervals byelevating repeatedly a striker and then permitting the striker togravitate along a predetermined path into abutment with a stop member toproduce the audible noise.

The foregoing is intended merely to be illustrative of my invention andother modifications or alternative embodiments will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art without departing from its spirit.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An audible timer comprising:

a striker;

channel means defining a non-circular channel adapted to receive andguide said striker along a predetermined path relative to said channelmeans;

said srtiker being so constructed as to gravitate within said channelmeans;

said channel means including at least one striker stop means forabruptly terminating gravitational movement of said striker, saidstriker and said stop means being constructed from materials which willproduce an audible noise when said striker engages said stop means; and

means for continually rotating said channel means to cause said strikerto engage said stop means at predetermined intervals to produce a seriesof repetitive audible noises.

2. An audible timer comprising:

a striker;

channel means adapted to receive and guide said striker said channelmeans including a plurality of channel runs connected at their ends, inseries, to define an endless perimetric channel, the juncture betweenadjacent channel runs defining a cornered loke whereby each channel runhas a cornered lobe at its ends,

said striker being so constructed as to gravitate within said channelmeans, said endless perimetric channel being disposed substantially in aplane that is inclined to the horizontal;

and means for continually rotating said endless perimetric channel aboutan axis that is substantially normal to the plane of said endlesschannel, whereby as said perimetric channel is rotated, the lowermostcorner lobe in which said striker is contained will rotate upwardlywhile the succeeding corner lobe rotates downwardly whereby said strikerwill gravitate downwardly towards said succeeding lobe when saidsucceeding lobe has been rotated to said lowermost position.

3. A timer as defined in claim 2 wherein said striker comprises asphere.

4. An audible timer comprising:

a rotatable member having a continuous perimetric channel supportedthereon, said perimetric channel being defined by a plurality of channelruns connected to each other in series and about the axis of rotation ofsaid member so that the junction of adjacent runs defines a cornerwhereby said continuous perimetric channel comprises alternating runsand corners; a striker contained within said channel for gravitationalmovement along and within said channel;

means mounting said rotatable member for rotation about a non-verticalaxis whereby as said member is rotated, successive corners of saidchannel may be rotated progressively to a position that is lower thanthat of the other corners of said channel so that as said corners arerotated in succession to said lowermost position, said striker maygravitate from the preceding lowermost corner to said lowermost corneralong the run disposed between said preceding lowermost and saidlowermost corners,

the adjacent runs defining said corners being oriented to define acorner angle sufiicient to retain said striker within said corner untilthe next succeeding corner is rotated to said lowermost position;

said striker and at least said corner portions of said channel beingformed from materials adapted to produce an audible sound when saidstriker engages said lowermost corner; and

drive means connected to said member to efiect said rotation thereof.

5. A device as described in claim 4 wherein said member comprises anenclosed box-like structure having spacedfront and rear walls and aplurality of sidewalls disposed between and secured to the perimetricportions of said front and rear walls in polygonal orientation, saidchannel being defined by said sidewalls and said front and rear walls,said corners being defined by adjacent ends of said spacer walls.

6. A device of the type defined in claim 5 wherein said strikercomprises a sphere of a diameter less than the spacing between saidfront and rear walls whereby said sphere may roll along said runs tosuccessive lowermost corners.

7. A device as claimed in claim 4 wherein said runs are straight.

8. A device of the type defined in claim 4 wherein said channel runscomprise tubes connected to each other in series.

9. A device as defined in claim 8 wherein said striker comprises asphere of a diameter smaller than the internal dimension of said tubes.

10. A device as claimed in claim 8 wherein said tubes are straight.

11. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said continuous perimetricchannel is defined by at least three runs.

12. A device as defined in claim 11 wherein each of said runs is ofequal length.

13. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein each of said runs is of equallength.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,704,551 3/ 1929 Buxton 84-4842,001,366 5/1935 Mittelmann 273-144 2,417,641 3/1947 Fischer 58--1 X2,729,020 1/1956 Frampton 46-43 2,923,122 2/1960 Inman 58-16 3,230,6971/ 1966 Ryan et al. 58-144 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner S. A.WAL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

